Every design for Savona

A port before anything else, Savona is the main city of the western Riviera, with a harbour that handles both cargo and holidaymakers, and an industrial past that made it a regional hub in the twentieth century. Life here keeps the rhythm of the sea, with mild springs and long summers, and winter days when the dark tramontana blows down from the hills and Savona becomes one of the coldest places on the whole Riviera.

The city sits on the Ligurian Sea between the mouths of the Letimbro and the Quiliano, about forty kilometres west of Genoa, with the Ligurian Alps behind it. Its history is that of Genoa's rival: a free commune and the home city of the della Rovere popes Sixtus IV and Julius II, until the Genoese conquered it in 1528, tore down the upper town and filled in the port. The Museo d'arte di Palazzo Gavotti and the Museo Storico Archeologico di Savona tell that story, forts such as the Forte della Madonna degli Angeli recall a city that had to defend itself, and the All About Apple Museum adds an unexpected modern note.

Up in the hills, among vegetable plots and fruit trees, stands the Casa di Colombo, the cottage where Christopher Columbus farmed the land while he chronicled his journeys.